GREENVILLE, S.C. -- A registered sex offender suspected of strangling a Clemson University student with her bikini is being returned to South Carolina to face charges.

Jerry Buck Inman, 35, was jailed Tuesday night in Jefferson County, Tenn.

He was arrested, without a struggle, about midnight about a mile from his parents' home, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said.

Inman, 35, was arrested on warrants for murder, rape and kidnapping in the death of Tiffany Marie Souers at her apartment on May 26.

Authorities said Wednesday that Inman will also be charged with a rape in Tennessee last month, as well as an attempted rape in Georgia. Jefferson County Sheriff David Davenport said the victims identified Inman from his tattoos.

Inman was identified Tuesday evening by 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail, whose office has been coordinating the investigation into Souers' death.

Even as Ariail was identifying him as a suspect, law enforcement officials were searching for Inman in Dandridge, Tenn.

Inman's last known address is in the town about 30 miles east of Knoxville. Ariail said that Inman was also spotted recently near Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

Tuesday night, one of Inman’s family members said that he had seen Inman on Tuesday afternoon and that they had done some yard work.

Inman is registered as a sex offender in Florida and has felony convictions in North Carolina.

State Law Enforcement Division chief Robert Stewart said that Inman was identified as a suspect from DNA matching conducted by SLED.

The DNA evidence was gathered from Souers' apartment in Central, Stewart said.

DNA collected after Inman’s previous convictions led investigators to identify him through a national database.

"When we put the information in we got a name back that was not part of our investigation," Stewart said.

Ariail confirmed Tuesday for the first time that Souers was sexually assaulted.

A Long Criminal History

Public records show that Inman has a criminal record dating back almost 20 years.

North Carolina records show that he was convicted of a second degree sexual offense in Buncombe County in 1988 when he was 18 years old, and that he escaped from prison twice, once in Buncombe County and once in Montgomery County.

Florida records show that he was convicted of sexual battery, armed robbery, burglary and aggravated assault in 1989 for an offense committed in 1987.

Ariail said that Inman is a construction worker, but that it is not known if he was working in Clemson area.

Emotional News

In Souers' hometown near St. Louis, her parents said Tuesday that seeing the face of the man accused of killing their daughter was another emotional experience in a wrenching period in their lives.

Jim Souers, Tiffany’s father, said that Ariail had called him to let the family know investigators had identified a suspect in the case.

"(But that is) nothing compared to seeing his picture,” Jim Souers told St. Louis television station KSDK. "I mean the phone call was 'here's the name and this is going to happen.' We really appreciate that, but it's nothing compared to seeing his ugly mug. It brings up emotions that I can't express here, obviously."

Bren Souers, Tiffany’s mother, said that she was relieved that a suspect has been identified.

"We're moving in the right direction,” she told KSDK. “We can move on with how we put the pieces together in our lives without our little girl."

In Central and Clemson, Tuesday’s news brought some sighs of relief.

"It makes you feel better that justice hopefully can be done," Joel Perry said. "He looked evil. Pure evil.”